Customer Reviews

Midwest 142 Ferret Nation Double-Level Ferret Cage with Ramps, 36 Inches by 25 Inches by 62-1/4 Inches

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this item for my two ferrets. There is a lot of room for them and they easily navigate the levels. Only drawbacks are: 1: The ladder angle seems a bit steep for my guys, however the ladders are well constructed and not slippery. Not the typical solid plastic, which act more like slides than ladders. that being said, 2: They usually avoid the ladder on the bottom floor and jump straight down from the shelf. The edge of the shelf has a small groove where they can get their little toes caught. Twice I've come into their room because of screaming only to realize the little guy had his toe caught in the groove and was hanging upside down from his toe. No damage seems to have been done, but I wrapped the edge with fabric so he can't get his toes caught anymore. The shelves could be improved to prevent this from happening. Otherwise, VERY high quality construction, very easy to wheel around and vacuum all the stuff they throw out. Easy to clean coated metal: just roll outside and scrub, and quickly wash down with the hose. My boys love it, they don't waste any time trying to escape because it's impossible with the locking doors.

This cage is well built, a great size, and easy to clean.

HOWEVER, my chinchilla Toby recently got his leg caught somewhere in the cage (possibly the ladder) and broke it so severely that it had to be amputated.

If you buy this cage, take steps to make it safer for your animals (safer ladders, check shelves to make sure toes can't get caught, etc).

I bought this cage and it is a really nice and it is well constucted. Before I bought it I read the reviews here and there was a review by J. Thomas "ferret mommy", that I paid close attention to, and she was absolutely right about the ferret getting her foot caught. Not more than five minutes after the ferrets were in their new cage, one got her foot caught on the edge of the shelf and was hanging upside down screaming. Praise the Lord we were sitting right there and were able to free her and she was alright. I'm surprised such good cage would have these terrible shelves. We removed the shelves and or going to wrap the ends with black duct tape. The ends have metal bars that hold the liner in place but it is not designed well and the ferret's feet get caught as they jump down. We are also going to wrap the ladders with rope so they can walk up and down better. Aside from that we love the cage and are glad we bought it, just want to warn people about the shelves as I think it is a serious threat to the ferrets.

My kids recently got a pair of pet rats, which were rapidly outgrowing their hamster-sized "baby" cage. I got the Ferret Nation when it was on sale for a deep discount. The one-inch bar openings were too big to safely hold the young ratties at the time. I improvised a solution by covering the outside of the cage with half-inch chicken wire from the hardware store, and it worked perfectly! They love the extra space to run around. The kids have had fun decorating it, hanging a big hammock, and attaching bird toys inside the cage. It's easy to clean by simply wiping down the floors, although the floor underneath does get a bit messy from the occasional bit of litter kicked overboard. Now, at about 4 or 5 months old, the ratties are probably big enough for the cage bars to hold safely, so pretty soon we plan to take the chicken wire off.

I have two chinchillas and they absolutely love this cage. There is so much room for them to jump around in it and there is plenty of room for a nice exercise wheel for them too. When I take them out of their cage, they actually get tired of being out and want to go back to their cage. They do kick their bedding out of the pan, but that's the only drawback to the cage and that's pretty minor.

We bought this product for our ferrets and were impressed with how sturdy it was compared with other cages in the same price category. Unfortunately, one of our ferrets got his leg caught in the space between the slats of the ramp and we found him hanging by that one leg. We rushed him to the Vet and after x-rays, found that the leg was broken. He underwent surgery for the break and is now OK. Our biggest problem is that when we called Midwest to report the situation, they couldn't have cared less!!!!! We have since covered all of the ramps to prevent a reocurance but I will NEVER buy another Midwest product again! BEWARE!

There are many reports of people's ferrets still getting legs trapped in ramps, between ramps, and toes in shelves. The new shelves they designed did nothing to fix it, it still has all sorts of gaps that your ferret's feet and toes can get stuck in.

However, if you know this, and you can buy sets of ramp covers and shelf covers, this cage is great. Contact me or comment if you want to know a mailing list where you can ask where to buy sets from, or google them. I've personally had ferrets get mangled in the cages. :( Two stars for not fixing the shelf problem, and not having solid ramps with no gaps. This cage would be perfect if it combined the best of super pet's solid ramps and shelves instead of the metal. Time to mod my cages...

So I'm the kind of 'mom' that spoils her little one. I got this cage for my chinchilla. Now before I purchased it, I read the reviews so in advance I was aware of the flaws, like how the shelves have a small gap in between the wire and the plastic flooring where the toes can get caught, and yes, watch out they that gap makes me cringe. Also I don't like the ramps since they are just made of wire and toes can get caught there as well.

So my plans for this cage is to put sleep-n-ledges, and make my own long ledges and ramps out of 'chin-friendly' wood. On top of that, I'm going to put in a nesting box so there is a small dark place at the top of the cage he can sleep. Once all of that is done, this cage is going to be great. Its super tall and has lots of ample running space.

Overall, I would only recommend this to someone that plans on adding their own shelves and ramps.

If you own ferrets, this cage is the best I've ever tried and your ferrets will love you for it. I had four ferrets, and rescued 3 more, so I needed a bigger cage. I got the 143 add on addition, but the seven would have been fine without it in the two story 142 model. You can tell by the ferret's behavior how happy they are. They can hang out at eye level with you, which causes more interaction between you and them. This is the easiest cage to clean because the doors open all the way (or come off) and the pans slide out. I didn't have an issue with anyone getting hurt on the ramps. They must have fixed it. The floor space is the biggest of any cage I've seen out there, so there is lots of room, in addition to shelves, for them to run around. Changing the ferret litter is a joy now, compared to my old cage, and for some reason they don't have accidents in the other corners like they did in the old cage. I have a litter box on the bottom so you just open the beautiful, sturdy, ferret proof doors and slide out the pan. EASY!! Another beautiful thing, is that if you close these doors, there is NO WAY for the ferret to figure out how to open it, as they could do with the old cage. I have the super saver shipping with Amazon, and I did shop around, so the free shipping made it cheaper for me at Amazon. This cage has everything a ferret will ever need and will probably last at least 20 years it is so well built and solid. The whole thing weighed at least 130 pounds. I have 5 hammocks in the cage and there is still PLENTY of room. I can't express enough how happy I am with this cage!

The Ferret Nation (Model 142) wins my vote, hands-down, for the best cage I've worked with. Previously, I had two SuperPet cages and I've worked with another Midwest cage.

The Ferret Nation is incredibly easy to clean. The half-size shelves can go on the left or the right. The ramps can go in one of 3 positions (front, middle, back) on the half shelves. The mid-level floor's hole position is determined when you assemble the cage: front-left or back-right.

The doors come completely off, so cleaning is a breeze! I wish the pans were a little sturdier, but you can order replacements directly from Midwest at 800-428-8560. In fact, I plan to replace the lower level floor with a mid-level floor and place a lower-level pan on the "shelf"---making a final level and an easier entrance/exit for my free-range ferrets. I can still close the cage up simply by latching the ladder/ramp closed, like I can do with the mid-level ramp. I also intend to purchase the add-on level to have a total of 3 levels (and a cage taller than my bookcases!).

I doubt anyone can compete with this cage---but I haven't seen a site that can compete with[...]

One word of caution: one of my ferrets pinched his toe when he was using the mid-level ramp. The wire that makes the level needs tape around the first 2 wires before you put the pan down. Use a heavy tape, so if their footing slips, their foot doesn't fall through the wire and pinch. I've read elsewhere that Midwest had corrected a similar issue and the new cages were shipping with that fix, so I'm not sure if this is the same problem. The tape isn't a huge problem for me, so I haven't called to ask about this issue.

Finally, the assembly instructions are incredibly poor. It took three of us to put it together---and I still had to place bolts that logically needed to be installed but weren't part of the instructions (fortunately, all the parts were there!). When you are done, you should have 5 bolts on each corner of the cage (for Model 142).